NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. Well, seeing how we are still in "The Month of Love"...

(NC turns his head to the right and smiles at the camera, while a logo of a heart with his face is shown in the corner, along with the title "Nostalgia Critic's Month of Love" as well as a harp glissando)

NC: I figure it's time to ask a cinematic question about love that seems to be plaguing a lot of people's minds. (Long beat) Is Twilight the worst thing ever?

(Clips from the Twilight movies are shown)

NC (vo): The books, the movies, the all-around phenomenon, nothing generates more brainless love or cynical hate than Twilight. But is it really worthy of as much cinematic disgust as it gets?

NC: (Suddenly becomes angry) OF COURSE IT IS! IT'S THE WORST CINEMATIC BURDEN NO ONE SHOULD EVER HAVE TO... (Immediately calms down) What I'm getting at is...

NC (vo): People seem to regard this franchise about a drama-addicted twit torn between an emo-tastic vampire and an ice tray stomach werewolf as one of the worst in entertainment history, both cinematic and literary. And given the line-up of bad movies we've gotten over the years (Posters of Troll 2, Batman and Robin and Catwoman are shown), is Twilight, for lack of a better term, deserving of that title?

NC (vo): Well, let's get down to what people really hate about it. It messes with the classic lore, most famously vampires don't sparkle! People have made up their own rules about vampires before, but this one seems to be the most...not vampire. There's also plenty of plot holes and established story elements that never seem to truly add up, even within the silly additions they make to the supernatural rule book. And while these additions are phenomenally stupid,.... I've seen Garbage Pail Kids, so what else you got? The effects are terrible; again, Garbage Pail Kids. Next. It's nothing but female orientated smut!... Well, you're close: It sparked the authors of female orientated smut, but these two don't even hit the bed sheets, until part four... part one. And to it's credit, I do think the bed gave the best performance. It did not look happy to be a flat surface for flat characters. This was actually a suicide; not too many people know that, but I digress.

NC (vo): The story is focused, albeit poorly, on the emotions of the characters. You know, when they actually decide to show emotion. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's horrible, but that doesn't make it smut until part four. And even then, the rewards are not very.... (Bella screams in pain) rewardy. So, that leaves us with one last major aspect that people seem to hate the most: The characters, and their complete fucked up ethics. The fact that these people are some of the stupidest and most selfish creations that any successful series has ever produced, and... yeah they are.

NC (vo): First, you got Edward, who has been around for more than a hundred years, and still mananged to not grow a personality; which figures because he falls in love with another personality stricken bland job, but we'll get to her in a bit. They share little to no chemistry, yet he constantly wants to throw himself at her feet. So much so, that even dollar store romance novels are telling him to grow a pair. He also likes to break up with her, yell at her, get in contrived cockfights, called a literal miracle of birth an evil abomination; but that's okay because.... woman like a bad bat.

NC (vo): Jacob is the other idiot, who seems to have the hots for Bella. He seems to be a little smarter than Edward, and even supportive of those he cares about, but.... He is still attracted to Bella, which is why I used the term "little smarter" than Edward. His big controversy, outside of being allergic to shirts, is he imprints on a newborn baby... which, in Twilight-land, means that he has marked her to be his future mate, making him a (shows a photo of Chris and Herbert from Family Guy with a wolf's head over Herbert's) pedo wolf? I guess this part never bothered me too much because... nobody fully knows how imprinting works because they just made this shit up.

NC (vo): I always thought he was doing it to protect Bella's kid, so the other wolves wouldn't kill her... or even some wolf made up bullshit sense, could see the future and see that someday they would be a couple. I don't know, they made it up, and it makes no sense. So how am I supposed to be mad at it if I don't understand it? That said, it is pretty weird to watch a kid grow, and I guess be thinking "yeah, I'm going to bang that someday", but then again, vampires in lore are usually a hundred years old, and have most likely watched their future loved ones grow up; so I don't know if anything in this set up is really new. I don't know, I guess I just find it hard to believe that Stephanie Meyer, as bat-shit crazy as a writer she is, would be able to work in a pedophile wolf; it just doesn't seem likely. Whetever the reasoning is and whatever imprinting is; I'm sure it's stupid, and probably not the main reason to hate the movies.

NC (vo): But, then we got the queen of mouth breathing, herself... Bella. Bella is where many have the most ethical problems, and they should: she's awful. She never fights for herself, is overly dependant, is constantly throwing herself into peril just so her playgirl calendars can save her. Even at her goddamn wedding, she barely cracks a smile look at that! (imitating Bella sounding bored) Oh, I'm getting married... sucks. (Normal) So, why does Bella come across as so awful, and more importantly, why do so many younger girls want to follow her? Because, in reality, Bella has, and will always always be, one thing: A blank slate.

NC (vo): Meyer, whether she realizes or not, has tapped into a lot of girls and even women's fantasies; which is to have all their problems taken away by a handsome male, and yet still be troubled, so that the male can continue to look after her. That's why she's so dependant and that's why she never does anything. Because she is just a skin for female readers to put on, and enter into a fantasy world of love and excitement. That a why superheroes for a long time were so bland and boring. If they had distinct personalities that were different from your own, you couldn't fantasize about being them.

NC (vo): Now, many would argue that times have changed, and characters in pop culture have evolved to distinct persona's and identities; even in genre's that were considered less important years ago. And that's probably the biggest reason people hate Twilight because a character nowadays being too much of blanks slate; not doing anything now equals uncaring, selfish, lazy too dependant on everyone, and avoiding responsibility when trouble is afoot.

NC (vo): And, seeing how the biggest audience for this series is girls and younger woman, many would say this is the worst role model that could ever be devised for an evolving world; and on the one hand... yeah, that sounds exactly right. She is the worst role model for anyone; just a miserable, uninteresting, little pain in the ass burden, which the story is buiding up as the everyday hero; yeah, lick it. But, here's my take on the character destroying the fabric of strength and morality. Think of all the things your grew up with; whether it be superheros, fantasy, comedy, romance. Most of these things were not the best influence either. Many of them relied on violence, or
resolutions that couldn't really happen in real life.

NC (vo): Saved By the Bell, for example, is about a high school boy [Zack Morris], who constantly causes trouble; and yet, still comes out cool and on top. And let's face it: At some point, when we were growing up, we wanted to be like Zack Morris; but when we got to high school, it wasn't everything the show promised was it? But it's okay; you know why? We adapted? We all wanted to be violent superheroes or glamorous movie stars, but we quickly discovered that reality had different plans, and we woke up pretty quick to it. Why? One: we're adaptable. We learn and discover that our environment changes, and thus, we have to make some changes to. Two: We grow the fuck up! It's called being smart, and young people do it more often than you think. Not all the time (Jersey Shore), but remember when The Simpsons were said to be destroying the fabric of America, remember, how Andrew Dice Clay was the most shocking person in the media, remember how everyone thought [Clip of "Vogue" by....] Madonna was going to be the downfall of society?

NC (vo): A lot of things we were thought were going to kill us we just evolved beyond. And now we look back and laugh at half the stuff we were afraid of. The early Simpsons episodes aren't shocking; hell, if any, they are just kind of awkward. Nobody talks about Andrew Dice fucking Clay anymore; in fact, where the hell even is that guy?, and Madonna..... well..... okay, she still has to keep her clothes on, but for different reasons. My guess is we'll look back on Twilight as the same way: it was stupid, even enjoyably stupid; and, in fact, and at times it did go too far. Watch this old vlog for more specifics on that. But for every moron, who's actually going to stay in the same mindset that Twilight represents about what life really is, dozens of others are evolving and moving on. So, is Twilight really the worst thing ever? Well the fact is it's not actually Twilight we hate so much; it's everybody's reaction to it: the fact that society made it a hit, and we wonder what that says about us. It's weird and messed up, but it's not the first time we've liked unethical crap (Transformers film, and The Bratz movie). So, it only proves that we shouldn't be paranoid about it either. Just accept the fact that chances are people will look back on it one day, and laugh the same we laughed at Save by the Bell. It's stupid, and I'll continue to make fun of it, but is it the worst thing ever, oh ho ho, my friends. There is still so much evolution and de-evolution (The Smurfs 2) that I think our society has to show.